Dem senator: Trump has lost credibility over wiretap claims

A Democratic senator asserted Thursday that President Trump has lost credibility after heads of two congressional intelligence panels said they have seen no evidence backing up his claim that former President Obama wiretapped Trump Tower.

“This just shows we have a really dangerous situation for the country,” Sen. Chris V—an Hollen (D-Md.) said on MSNBC’s “For the Record.”

“It’s bad for the White House, but it’s bad for the country when the credibility of the president of the United States is just zeroed out entirely,” he added.

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Van Hollen’s comments came after Senate Intelligence Committee officials on Thursday said they had seen “no indications” the Obama administration wiretapped Trump Tower during the 2016 presidential campaign.

Thursday’s statement from Sens. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.) echoed comments the day before from House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) who told reporters, “We don’t have any evidence that took place.”

White House press secretary Sean Spicer said that Trump “stands by” his accusations made on Twitter early this month against Obama, but instead focused on Trump believing some type of “surveillance” took place, not necessarily wiretapping.

The House Intelligence panel has called for the Justice Department to turn over any evidence on the topic by Monday.

Van Hollen cited the Senate panel’s announcement to argue that members of the global community cannot “take the words of the president seriously.”

He said if Trump’s claims about Obama prove untrue “the question of course arises — can you ever trust what the president says in moments when it will matter to the country?”

“[It’s] everyday concerns — the interactions the president has with Congress, with the country and with international leaders,” he said. “The president has already been somebody who’s in this alternative universe, this alternative fact place, and this just goes to show they are stuck there.

“It’s not befitting the office of the president for somebody to be making those baseless claims.”